A Thirst 4 Blood
by RealityEngineer
Summary: Four survivors finally reach a safe haven... or have they? While Book 1 is finished, the Redux has begun, and Chapters 1 and 2 have been redone and you can read them now.
1. Part 1 Redux

**The Thirst 4 Blood: **_**REDUX**_

**Book 1: The City**

_Part I_

"The city..." the boy whispered. He and his three partners had traveled a long, long way to make it here. Following the instructions on the radio, they heard word of a military refuge deep in the city. So, they walked. They walked and walked, through the ruins of cities and the dead, broken wastelands the "war" had left behind. Although the word "war" usually meant that there were casualties. This was genocide. "We're finally here."

The woman sniffled. She was crying, although he was almost positive they were tears of joy. How could they not be? They were finally here. New Orion. They were only a few miles away from civilization. From safety.

"We'd better get moving," the man in the police uniform said. They nodded and started forward, across the huge bridge. About halfway across they found a wooden sign. It had dark writing on it and read, "SAFE CAMP THIS WAY" with an arrow into the city. The boy, Matt, hoped it was just paint.

_"All survivors, come to New Orion city. This is the US military. We have a refuge inside the city and are willing to take any and all survivors in. Please, anyone, if you're out there, come to our camp. It's safe. We've got food. We've got shelter," _the radio played the message again, the fifth time on the road they'd heard it. Same tone in the man's voice. It was a recording. No matter, it would have to be. They would be busy tending to the survivors.

"Where are we going, Ean?" Matt asked the police officer.

"You tell me, kid. I'm following you." Matt frowned and looked around.

"Another sign!" came a cry from the woman. She was cradling her infant in one hand and pointing to a sign with the other. It read, "KEEP GOING, YOU'RE ALMOST THERE" with another arrow. They continued following the sign. There was a big building labeled, "SAFE CAMP", with boarded up windows and a heavy door. The only problem... the heavy door was open.

"Matt, you come with me," Ean instructed. "Ike, you stay here with Rose and her kid. We're going in to make sure it's safe. If you see anything, tell us." They nodded. Ean flipped on the flashlight on his automatic rifle. Matt had heard Ean call it by it's name once... M16...? Maybe M17, he wasn't sure. But Matt knew his weapon. Ean called it the SPAZ. It was a big, automatic shotgun. Thankfully Matt took some civilian weapon training before the incident, seeing as his neighborhood wasn't exactly the highest class.

"Quiet," Ean said, listening intently. "I hear something..." They turned their ears toward the darkness, but heard nothing. "Hm. Come on." Night was beginning to fall. It'd be dangerous in the dark. Very, very dangerous. They proceeded further into the dark building. "Damnit," Ean said, stumbling over something. "We need light!"

"Here," Matt said, finding a switch. He flipped it and the room was illuminated.

He immediately wished he hadn't.

Ean hadn't tripped over furniture. He had tripped over the body of an ex-military soldier. The walls were soaked in blood. As was the floor. Although the floor was also decorated with the lovely furnishings of corpses and the littering of weapons and ammo casings.

"Jesus H. Christ..." Ean whispered. "They're all dead."

"God damnit..." Matt said, his hands clenching into fists around his weapon. "God DAMNIT! Every single time- EVERY GODDAMN TIME, EAN- they take away any chance of humanity! Any chance of safety! Why?" He hadn't been a strong believer in deities before, but now he was cursing whoever controlled this damn reality for doing this. Cursing them for creating the undead. He felt Ean's hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Matt. I know it's tough. It's tough for all of us. We'll get through it eventually." Matt looked at Ean's face for consolation. It showed a mixture of pity and horrible repulsion from the corpses. Matt nodded and hung his head in shame. What he found wasn't the best thing he could've seen.

The corpses weren't corpses. They slowly rose to their feet, glaring at Matt and Ean with egg-white eyes. They released horrible screeching before rushing forward.

"Gah!" Matt fired on them; thankfully his SPAZ was automatic. He fired off nine shots, eight of them hitting their mark, before he had to reload. "Cover me, Ean!" The officer nodded and held them back with his M16. When Matt had finished, he used his last shot on the remaining zombie. "Why didn't they attack us before?" Ean's eyes got wide.

"The lights. Oh my god, Ike and Rose..." he spoke softly, but his words' meanings rang clear.

"The horde," Matt replied. "We have to go." They sprinted to the door to find Ike and Rose staring off into the horizon.

"We were just about to get you guys," Ike said quietly. As far as Matt could tell, Ike was Asian, and he was around Matt's age, 16 or 17. The lights in the building cast shadows over the streets of the city. Tiny shadows, growing larger, growing in number. They were like a living organism, the horde. They would grow and eat and assimilate. "The horde is coming. It must've been attracted by the light."

"Rose," Ean said quietly. "Get in the building. It should be quite a bit safer in there. Ike, go with her, just in case it isn't." Ike nodded and followed her inside. "If something goes wrong, shut the door."

"But, if something goes wrong, shouldn't we help you?" Ike asked as Rose stroked her infant daughter Natalie's hair. Ean shook his head.

"No. You need to protect yourselves. We'll be fine, promise." Ean looked at Matt.

"You ready?" he asked him.

"Not in the slightest," Matt replied, a crooked grin on his face.

"Good. Let's get 'em." Ean slid a clip into his automatic rifle and Matt imitated him. "Ready..." There was a loud screech and Matt tensed up. "Aim..." They leveled their rifles at the corner where they saw the shadows advancing quickly. There was a moment of unreal silence as they tightened their grip on the triggers of their weapons. "Fire." There were gunshots, then screams.


	2. Part 2 Redux

**The Thirst 4 Blood: **_**REDUX**_

**Book 1: The City**

_Part II_

"Jesus," Matt panted heavily.

"They're gone," Ean said. He knocked on the door weakly. "Hey!" he called inside, his voice hoarse. "They're gone!" The door opened a crack and Ike looked out.

"For real?" Ean nodded and the doors opened. The two were unharmed. "Thank god. I was getting scared we were losing in there."

"We should get going," Ean said, looking up and down the street. "I think we should find an intact building and blockade inside tonight."

"What's that?" Rose asked. It was spray-painted in black against a wall. It appeared to be some sort of pentagram.

"I don't know," Matt said. "There's an arrow." Matt walked forward and touched his fingertips against the arrow, following it along the wall. He followed it into an alleyway and finally inside a building. There was another symbol and another arrow, leading upstairs. Finally, they found a large red door with a tiny, barred window.

"What is it?" Matt asked. Ike walked up to the door.

"It says... '_US Military Approved Grade B Safe Room_'. Safe room? Safe from what?" There was a loud, piercing scream from behind them.

"Let's hope to god it's the zombies," Ean said. "Because that's where we're staying for tonight." Ean wrenched the handle on the door upward, and there was a clank, followed by the door swinging open. They rushed inside and they found a valve-typed wheel on the other side. Ean turned it and several metal levers snapped into place in the wall.

"Wow. Efficient," Ean commented. "Let's take a look around."

"Look," Matt said, picking up a piece of paper. "'_This is a Grade B Military Approved Safe Room. While we, the US Military, have taken both security measures as well as quarantine measures, President Miller has deemed it necessary that Safe Rooms be built, as an emergency backup maneuver. This Safe Room is complete with ammunition for several types of Military Approved weapons, as well as medical kits, weapons, a bunk, a filtered sink and toilet bathroom, and 6 inch thick, reinforced titanium doors._' Holy crap," Matt said quietly. "They saw this thing coming."

"Keep reading," Ike said.

_"'These Safe Rooms are to be built in discrete, civilian locations, in case the civilians begin to panic. Riots could be potentially as dangerous as this disease itself. However, if any civilians reach this place before the military does, know this: This virus may be airborne, it may be waterborne or it may even be transmitted by insects or rodents. We are unsure as to the nature of the virus on animals or insects, we just know that it fills the host's head with a deadly amount of neurotoxins, however, soon after the neurotoxins kill the host, their bodies are reanimated by an unknown chemical overload in the brain, re-stimulating the main bodily functions, such as movement, minor thought processes, and even some verbal communications. These hosts are dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Some test subjects have proven somewhat or mostly immune to this virus and if you ARE civilians that made it to this Safe Room... that'd probably be you. This Public-Service-Announcement has been approved by the US Military and the President of the United States of America'._"

"They've done it..." Ike said quietly.

"Done what?" Rose asked, her voice quivering, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"They've scientifically proven the god damned zombie apocalypse." Matt chuckled, Rose nodded, and Ean remained solemn.

"I think we need some sleep," Ean said finally, breaking the silence. The others agreed. "I'm not exactly sure if those doors can hold those things. Matt and I will be on the first awake shift. Ike, Rose, you get yourselves some sleep." They nodded, walking over to the bunk.

"You take it," Rose said.

"No, you've got Nadene. Take it, I insist," Ike said courteously. She smiled and lied down on the bed, Ike on the ground next to her. They fell asleep almost instantly, despite the lights being perpetually on in the Safe Room.

"So..." Ean started awkwardly. He and Matt sat on the few chairs next to the Safe Room's entrance.

"So..." Matt repeated. "Where were you? You know, when this whole storm hit? Were you, like, a police officer?"

"What? Oh, the outfit. No, I was actually a volunteer police officer. I could never really be in the line of duty. Actually, it was my second day on duty when it happened. This... 'storm', as you called it. We got a call in, some maniac attacking people, so we headed down. It was deep in town, as you may expect. Some residential area, we thought it was just some guy hopped up on some new-age drug."

"But it wasn't." Ean chuckled.

"No. No it wasn't. We found the guy, eating a dead civilian. EATING his corpse, man! For god's sake... that's more than any man should ever see. I can... I can still see that man's eyes as he looked up at us. It was full of anger... and fear... hunger.... The weirdest part about that, is that I could tell those emotions through those smoky white eyes. They pierced your soul and froze you in terror. I guess that's why he got one of us. We shot the man down, then the guy- sorry, the CORPSE- he was eating, got up and staggered at us. At this time, we're all freaking out and running for the squad car, shooting and missing- A LOT.

"So, we get in the car, and drove. We drove through the whole city, it was full of 'em now, those infected. We drove and drove, far away, to a different city. We got reports and calls for help over the comm... we didn't go and help anyone. Not a single person. We were police officers.... Finally, we got to the next town over. I can't remember the names. But we heard reports of the infected... what was the word... 'evolving'. Yeah, that's the term they used. Like it was a new species of living things, like they were living animals.

"They weren't even deserving of that. We came to the next town, and a Tank came. No, not military. Infected. The big ones, sprinting at you, throwing rocks and cars. OUR car. The car flipped, hit the ground, and I blacked out."

"You blacked out?" Matt asked. "And you survived?" Ean put his hands up.

"Just listen to the story, punk," he smirked. "I woke up, and my partner was dragging me along a road. His leg was broken. I could tell. Most legs aren't turned around at 180 degrees. Your foot BACKWARD. Then... he... gave me his pistol. He gave me his pistol, loaded a clip, wrapped my hand around it, and held it to his head. He told me, and these were his exact words... 'Ean. I got bit. Look.' and he lifted his shirt to show me a horror-show of claw-marks and bite-marks. Then, he said, 'Ean, man. You've got to do this. This is your last favor to me. Shoot me. I don't want to kill you, but... I'm feeling this weird instinct...'." Ean's eyes began to fill with tears. "'The instinct to kill you.' So... I did. I killed him. My partner, my friend, for years. Dead in an instant. I closed his eyes and started along the road." He choked back a sob. "Sorry. I know, seeing a grown man cry..." He laughed and cleared his throat. "It's embarrassing. Your turn. How'd you get here?"

"Well..." Matt closed his eyes, thinking. "I remember. Remember watching the news, hearing about the worst outbreaks? The school ones? Or those mall ones? Where everyone was herded like cattle into small rooms by the infected and slaughtered? That was me. Except, I didn't die. One of the only wounds I got was this." He pulled his sleeve and turned his arm over, revealing a long, deep scar, the skin red around the wound from infection of some pre-apocalyptic disease. "A pencil. A PENCIL. This whole time, and I got stabbed by a pencil. Real heroic, Matt. If I had any wounds from a pencil now, it'd be in my head, and self-inflicted." Matt sighed. "Although I'm too much of a pansy to do it.

"But like I said, I was in school. We heard a beating on the door, then this... this THING busted in and started killing. Killing everyone. I ran, fleeing the room and slipping on something, probably blood, and getting the scar. All of the infected in the building had their plates full already, so I was pretty lucky. I just ran right out. The one that DID come for me ran across from the parking lot, and got t-boned by a car. A goddamned car. How does that even happen? The thing flew, like, what, 40 feet, then attacked the driver. I didn't stay and watch.

"I got home, wrapped my arm up, and looked for my parents. They were in their room, and they were smothered in blood. Their own blood. They'd been murdered by an infected, and it was still there. I closed the door and ran to my room, grabbing the nearest weapon. It happened to be a model Chinese Katana. A WORKING model, might I add. The thing ran at me and I stabbed it, right in the face. The bastard deserved what he got. I'd have that Katana now if I lost it in a sewer drain after getting jumped by a Hunter. Oh well.

"But, yeah, I heard that the hospitals were safe, so I headed there. Guess what? They weren't. I found one person inside not infected. Rose." He gestured toward the woman asleep on the bed. "She had just had her baby, Nadene. Her husband was dead, and the others were dropping like flies. You know why the hospitals were so bad? People started getting sick, so where do they go? Exactly. And so there were, what, hundreds of infected there?

"Anyway, we got out of there and went straight to Monterey. That's where we found you and Ike." Ean nodded. "God, it's been, what, less than a week?" Matt shook his head. "It's been one hell of a week."

"Damn straight," Ean replied. They heard a peculiar noise, like a coughing, but odd and scratchy. They quieted and watched out the window of the Safe Room. A Smoker ambled in, tongue hanging down to its chest. It coughed a bit, staggered to a wall in a coughing fit and vomited on the ground, then continued walking through the house. "That was close," Ean said quietly.

"No," Rose groaned softly in her sleep. "Not a Witch... no... nooo, not a Witch!" Ike opened his eyes slowly and patted Rose's head. Rose's eyes opened as well.

"You're awake," Matt said. They nodded. "Cool, because I need some food."

"I'll watch the window," Ike said, sitting next to Ean as Matt went over and started to pilfer their backpack full of food. He sighed happily, contently eating a brownie and a small bag of chips. That was his midnight snack AND breakfast.

"Ean, do we have any water bottles?"

"Yeah, one," Ean said. "Should be in there." Matt dug around and found it. He went to the sink and filled it with water, taking a long drink, then gasping for air as he wiped his lips.

"Wait, Ean, you don't have herpes right? Because if I hear you have herpes after I drank after you..." A big smile covered Matt's face.

"Oh shut up, Matt," Ean said, grinning. The running joke had started out as a serious question once before the two burst into hysterical laughter.

"What now?" Matt asked, sprawling out on the floor.

"We wait," Ean said. "We have to wait until sunrise. It's not safe in the dark." Matt nodded. He understood. He'd heard the infected scream as the sun sank below the horizon. Heard their call, a symbol for a hunger for flesh, their way of telling the world about their thirst for blood.

Matt lied on the ground, watching the others around the door. They were there, then there was a moment of darkness before they reappeared, hazy now, due to Matt's fatigue. Finally, the world went dark and he slipped into unconsciousness, the first sleep for four days of hell.

**A note to my readers:**

**I am holding somewhat of a contest. Each person may submit a OC (or Original Character) to my email address, complete with a description of their life before and after the apocalypse, and a description of their appearance, attitude, etc. I will choose several of them for characters in the Films following the first one. So submit yours, because you may find them running from Tanks and Witches while wielding an automatic M16 Assault Rifle!**


	3. Part 3

_**PART 3**_

"Wake up!" Matt was shaken awake softly. He opened up his eyes and looked around.

"What's going on?" Matt asked.

"They're here. They found us," Ean said, a grim look on his face.

"How are we getting out?"

"The roof," Ike said, lugging the sofa out from in front of the door to the upper stairwell. Matt nodded. "We're going to go by roof and hopefully get far enough away from here before they realize we're here that we can escape across the bridge."

"Got it," Matt said, checking the clip of his rifle before slamming it into the feed. "Let's go."

The four moved across the rooftops slowly, Ean and Ike firing behind them at any enemy that happened to make it onto the roof and Matt escorting Rose along with his flashlight sweeping the darkness. They jumped from roof to roof, each building getting them closer to the edge of the city. They could feel it in the adrenaline pumping through their veins. They felt their blood pumping faster with each leap. Each bound they felt themselves getting closer and closer to the exit. They would finally be away from this hell.

"Oh no," Rose whispered and stopped.

"Rose, keep moving!" Matt yelled.

"No. I won't go further."

"What are you talking about?!" His rifle swept forward and caught the glistening red eyes of a Witch, her head turned around at them. She screeched and lunged. "ROSE!" Rose was tackled to the ground, the Witch's claws slicing as it screamed. Matt knew it was only reacting out of fear. He fired his assault rifle on it. "ROSE!" Ike's shotgun blew it several feet away. Rose got to her feet and everyone immediately noticed what was missing. Rose looked over to see a pool of blood.

"Oh no. You didn't." She just stared at the Witch, growling. "YOU DID NOT KILL MY DAUGHTER!" The Witch screeched in fear as Rose tackled her off the building into the crowd of infected below.

"ROSE! NO!" Matt cried, lunging toward the edge of the building. Ike grabbed his shoulder, pulling him up.

"Matt. We have to keep moving." Matt looked down at Rose, a tear rolling down his cheek. He nodded and continued to sprint forward across the rooftops.

"We're close, I can feel it." Ike said. "The crowd below looks like it died off. No pun intended. We should head through one of these houses and get to the lowest level so we can get to the bridge." Ean nodded and took a grenade, slamming it into the concrete of the roof.

"Move!" The three ran a bit and watched as the portion of the roof collapsed and the three jumped down, sprinting through the house. Dust and broken wood blocked their path, but eventually, they reached ground level, immediately moving into a fast jog.

"How close are we?" Matt asked.

"Look!" Ean said. He pointed to a street sign. It was labeled, "ST. ELLEN'S BRIDGE" and an arrow towards the bridge. The sun was beginning to rise over the city. They sprinted up the street, firing at the few infected that had followed them. As soon as the last one died, they started forward at a brisk pace.

"There!" Ike cried. "The bridge!" They ran onto the concrete bridge and started to dart across, between cars, hoping for their lives none of them harbored any infected. They reached a large, open stretch of highway that led to the other side. Ean stopped and Ike and Matt slowed, jogging backwards to look at him.

"Ean! Come on!" Matt cried. He heard the blades of a helicopter.

"HEY!" Ean screamed. "DOWN HERE! WE'RE ALIVE! HELP US!" The other two were on the other side.

"Come on!" Matt yelled. Across the bridge, an army of infected were sprinting across. "HURRY!" The helicopter fired a missile at the bridge. Ean started running and jumped as the explosion hit. The bridge began to groan and collapse. As it plummeted into the water below, Ean grabbed the edge of the remaining bridge. Ike and Matt ran forward, grabbing his wrists.

"Come on, Ean," Matt said, groaning as he tried to lift the heavy man. There was a loud screech. The trio's eyes widened. An infected lunged upward, grabbing Ean's ankles.

"AGH!" he cried out. Another jumped up, grabbing the other ankle. Then another onto those two, then another and another. He looked sadly up at the two. "Let me go."

"What? Ean, no!" Matt said. Ike looked at Ean then released his hand. "IKE!"

"No, Matt. I'm going to die anyway. I've been bitten. And if you don't let me go, you'll die too. Let me go Matt. You and Ike go on." Matt felt hot tears welling up in his eyes.

"Ean..."

"MATT! THAT'S AN ORDER! LET ME GO!" Matt choked out a sob and released Ean's hand, watching him plunge into the deep, blue depths of the fast moving river. He was immediately lost in the stream.

"I know how you felt, Ean..." Matt whispered. He heard the helicopter blades slowing to a halt and saw that it had landed nearby.

"Come on!" the pilot said. Matt ran over and got in. They took off again, a few infected jumping after the craft. "You're real lucky your friend attracted so many infected! We would never have seen you!"

"Yeah. Real lucky," Matt said sarcastically.

"You'll have to speak up!" the pilot yelled. "The blades are real loud!"

"Never mind!" Matt replied. "Where are we headed?"

"Nearest airport! I need some fuel!"

"Are you all that's left?" Ike asked.

"Yeah! Just me and this babe!" he smacked the dashboard of the helicopter. "Don't worry! We'll be just fine!" Matt and Ike sighed and slumped into their chairs. They were safe. For now.

**A bit shorter than part 2, but there will be more, don't worry. I'm unsure as to if I'll actually keep this chapter. It has a few deaths, as suggested. But read and review!**


	4. Part Four

_**PART FOUR**_

Upon trying to land at the airport they found it completely overrun. They couldn't reach it to get fuel for the helicopter, so they moved on, attempting to make the next several miles to another airport. However, just as they were over a forest, they ran out of the last drops of fuel they were running on and plummeted to the ground.

The three crawled from the wreckage.

"You okay?" Matt asked the two.

"I think I'm good," Ike said, holding his arm which had been sliced open by some sort of sharp metal.

"I'm fine, but your friend there needs a bit of help," the pilot, Ryan, said.

"Did you have any medical kits on the helicopter?" Matt asked, rummaging through the shrapnel that remained of the helicopter. He sliced his hand on something and recoiled, continuing to kick through the piles. Finally, a large white box caught his eye. He opened it with his good hand and got out a roll of gauze.

He wrapped his hand, then moved to Ike, spraying antiseptic on the wound. Ike cried out and reached out, ready to stop Matt, then realized that he was only helping, so stopped and winced. Matt looked up and down the huge cut. It was deep, and about 8 inches long. He grimaced as he wrapped it in gauze.

"How's it looking?" Ike asked.

"That's going to make a pretty scar," Ryan replied, grinning. Suddenly, there was a screech from somewhere in the jungle. Ike grabbed his pistol, Matt grabbed his rifle, and Ryan had a tactical shotgun.

"Damn, they're here too?" Ryan asked, looking around, as if one was going to just be standing in the clearing they made by crashing the helicopter.

"Of course they are," Matt said quietly. "They're what's left of humanity. Meaning, like we were, they're everywhere." He scanned the area with his rifle. Thankfully, the sunlight still shone through the foliage, about midday now.

"We've got to move," Ike said. The others nodded. They loaded their guns. Matt shoved the med-kit into his backpack.

"Wait," Ryan said. He went to the helicopter and pried the compass that had been embedded in the dashboard out. "Which way to the nearest city?"

"I think it was east," Matt replied. "That's where we were headed, right?" Ryan nodded. "Alright. Let's get going."

"We need to stop," Ike said, holding his arm tenderly. They'd been walking for hours.

"Alright," Matt replied. "We'll set up camp around here." They walked a little further, exiting the trees and entering a large clearing, cut through the middle by a large river. "Come on, Ike." He wrapped his arm around Ike's shoulder and walked him down to the riverside. They sat down and started a fire with some wood and lighter fluid.

"So, what now?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know. For now we'll just sit and rest."

"It'll be dark soon. Then what?"

"Hm. I've never been in a jungle with these things before. It should be similar to an urban environment, just… maybe more cover for them." The three shuddered at the thought. "But as long as we stay here, where we can see them if they start coming, we'll be fine. We may have to travel later. By dark."

"Seriously?" Ryan asked.

"We're close to the next city. When we get there, we'll be fine, as long as we can find shelter."

"Before they find us."

"…yeah." The three sat in silence for a minute.

"Before you found me, I was an engineer," Ike said, making small talk. The other two looked over at him. "I got wounds like this all the time. So this is no new thing to me. And that's why I was dirty when you found me. Ever since… well, all hell broke loose, the water and electricity have been down. So I didn't have time to shower after my shift. Then they found me. Not you guys. THEM.

"I managed to fight them off for a while, but eventually, I became weak and I couldn't fight them. I was almost dead by the time you guys found me. I was in that crane. Remember?"

"Yeah," Matt said, grinning. He remembered it well. He and Ean fired at the infected, when suddenly, a Tank came up. It was about to kill them when it was suddenly thrown into a nearby building by a crane. Ike was operating it.

"I was a pilot, obviously," Ryan said, piping up. "I used to fly a helicopter for a news crew. We were above, covering the outbreak. We saw the things… what they did… we were the source of all of those clips on the news. Remember those?" They nodded. The news reports on the first hour. How they were instructing all civilians to stay indoors. That's ultimately why so many died. If they had told them to be armed on the roof or in the basement, like the man in the vault did…. He knew, before just about anyone. "But we were the ones running the clips and we were the commentary for it too. Ha. That newscaster, that Penny Bennet. Cold-hearted bitch that one was. Did you hear all that stuff she said? All for ratings. Damn her. I remember one case, it was a mall outbreak, I think. 'Look at that carnage! Are you seeing this folks? People are getting ripped apart down there! Let's hope that's not your family!' and she laughed. For god's sake, she LAUGHED. How can you laugh at something like that? How… how can anyone…

"But I learned later my family WAS down there. Most of them. They were just shopping. Innocent civilians. I probably filmed their death. Those things, ripping and eating everything. Those bastards. That's why the commentary changed. I hate to say it out loud. I pushed her."

"What?!"

"Yeah. I had to. She was screwing with my head. I started hearing voices. Her voice. Her horrid laugh in my head. If I didn't, I would've gone crazy. I did some of the commentary after that. The smart ones. 'Get indoors, and secure yourself. If you have a weapon, don't hesitate to use it'. That was me. Not to be arrogant, but I would've made a better newscaster than her. But I'm glad I was a pilot. I survived, and she didn't. I'm sorry." He hung his head. Matt put a hand on his shoulder.

"We've all done things we weren't proud of during this tough time," he told Ryan. Ryan nodded. "The sun's setting. We'll take shifts sleeping. One at a time. Ike's first." Ike nodded, already drifting off. "Ready?" he asked Ryan.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's hope none of those bastards find us here."

"Let's hope."

Day broke quietly. The wildlife normally echoing throughout the jungle was dead silent. A new life was there. Or death. Either way you considered them, the horrid, evil creatures screamed their cry out into the sky as dawn slowly broke.

"Wake up," Ike shook Matt.

"Where are they?" Matt asked groggily.

"No, it's morning. We're leaving." Matt looked around, nodded, and wiped his eyes. They went down to the riverside and filled their bottles with the freshwater from the river. They started off through the forest again. Each cry filled their heart with terror. They all sounded so close.

"We going the right way?" Matt asked.

"Yup," Ryan replied, consistently checking the compass. Matt stopped.

"What is it?" Ike asked. Matt looked down. Underfoot there were small, near-identical chunks of rock.

"Gravel?" he asked. They started forward quicker and found themselves facing a highway. "The city!" He looked down the highway to see the silhouette of a city. "Maybe this time we'll find something worth finding." The others nodded and they started for the city.

"We need to find supplies soon," Matt said, killing another zombie via headshot from his rifle. "I think we should try a supermarket or something."

"Where?" Ike asked, firing at zombies with a pistol.

"I don't know. Ryan, where are we going to find a grocery store?"

"I think there's one up the street from here."

"Alright, we'll start heading that way. Ike, street or roof?"

"Eh… roof."

"Let's go." Matt ran towards a door, kicking it inward and surveying the room with his rifle. "Clear!" The three sprinted inside and started up the stairs to the top floor of the house. Matt took a wooden chair and started stabbing the legs at the ceiling. Finally, the holes created a gap through which the other two boosted Matt, then he helped them climb up into the attic.

"If we can find a way through the roof, we can start heading for the grocery store," Matt said.

"Or at least find one," Ike replied. Matt began looking around the room.

"Think this'll work?" he asked, starting up a chainsaw.

"That could work," Ryan said, grinning. Matt tore it into the ceiling, the sawdust grinding and showering him. Finally, he cut a box through which plaster and ceiling tiles fell through. They found a chair nearby and used it to climb up and onto the roof. Suddenly, they heard the sound of splintering wood and the screech of the infected.

"Move!" Matt commanded. They started to sprint across the roofs, jumping from roof to roof, scanning the horizon for a sign of a grocery store.

"Nothing yet!" Ike reported, firing backward at the several infected following them over the gaps between the roofs. Due to the sheer number of infected, some were dropped into the gaps, falling to the ultimate breaking of limbs and decaying bones.

"Wait, there!" Ryan cried out. Matt looked behind him for a moment, grinning. He saw the large sign displaying the name of the grocery store.

"Thank god!" Matt cried out, continuing his running. Finally the amount of zombies dwindled to nothing. "Move, before they come back!" As he turned to sprint toward the store, he and the other two fell through the roof. It collapsed, as did the next floor. His vision was a dark red shaded with gray. He groaned, attempting to get up. He eventually got to his feet, helping Ike and Ryan up as well.

"Wait," Matt said. "Is that...?" The other two followed his gaze. It was another one of the vault-like doors from New Orion.

"Another vault?" Ike asked. They walked over to it and spun the lock, the vault door opening slowly. Suddenly, before Matt knew what had happened, there was an infected on top of him, smacking at him with its claws. It appeared to be an adolescent wearing a hooded pullover.

"Hunter!" Ike cried before firing at it with his tactical shotgun. It fell off, darting around the room almost impossible to see. Matt fired his rifle, hitting the Hunter in the leg. It cried out, getting on one knee, allowing Ike to shoot it in the head with his shotgun. It fell over, bleeding through its hoodie. Matt got to his feet slowly. The three entered the vault.

"What is this?" Matt asked, picking a piece of paper off the wall. Ike reached into his pocket and retrieved a paper much similar to the one in Matt's hands. "Where'd you get that?"

"The other vault. I found it on the wall. It's all gibberish though. You can read it, although it wont do much good." Matt took it, then, suddenly, there was a loud roar from upstairs.

"Tank..." Matt whispered.

"Dude, we're screwed," Ryan replied. Matt thought for a moment.

"Close the vault," he said finally. The two looked at him, then looked at the vault door. They grabbed the bars and pulled hard. They heard a rumble as the Tank hit the floor in the basement. As they pulled it closed, they heard the Tank hit it with its fists and scream. Then they heard it stomp off. "We'll just wait about an hour before we leave again. There's food here." He grabbed a can and began eating, as did the others.

"What's going on?" Ike asked finally. "What's with these vaults and those weird pieces of paper?"

"I don't know," Matt replied. "But we're going to find out."


	5. Part 5

**EPISODE TWO**

**PREPARATIONS**

_**PART 1**_

"...'_and so as I plainly show in my diagram, this is the only possibility_,'" Matt read from the paper. "'_The only way we are to survive is to build the Vault System, and stock each one with food for the coming storm. We will emerge victorious, survivors of this virus. In each of your homes I've installed a Vault as well as stocked it with food and an anti-virus so when we surface we will be the sole survivors, the ones immune to this plague that has killed humanity, and build a new earth._'"

"And you think the anti-virus was their downfall," Ike asked, sipping his lemonade slowly. They'd made it to the grocery store and blocked the windows, hiding out for a short time before heading out again. They decided they would go to another city, Springfield, and hopefully there they'd find something worth surviving for.

"Yeah," Matt replied. "The virus immediately gets into you and you can't get it out. Even the smallest dose would infect the entire human body. There is no anti-virus."

"But what if someone found it? What if someone invented, like... an opposing virus? Something that transforms the body's immune system into something that CAN combat the virus?"

"Interesting. Like reprogramming the body, rather than the virus. Hm. That's quite an interesting solution."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. When are we gonna blow this joint?" Ryan interrupted.

"Soon. We just need to gain our strength and regain our bearings. I'm going to go to the roof and decide the best way out of the city." The other two nodded, slowly and quietly eating and drinking their food around the small fire they'd made for light. He lowered the ladder to get to the roof and slowly climbed up. He looked around, inhaling the air slowly. It was musky with the smell of blood and decay. He knew better than to cough, however. He looked off to the horizon slowly, then heard something. A crying, perhaps? A female. Familiar. Too familiar. He turned to see a woman huddled on the roof. He recognized those clothes.

"Rose... Rose? Is that you?" he said softly. The woman continued crying. He knew it was Rose. Nadene was in her lap. "Rose! Over here!" He moved his flashlight over her. She looked back, her eyes bright red as well as Nadene's. "Oh my god." She made a horrible screeching noise before several infected started climbing the sides of the building. "God damnit-!" He ran inside, blocking the exit. "We've got trouble!"

"What's going on?" Ike asked, pumping his shotgun.

"I thought I saw Rose. She turned out to be a Witch."

"Isn't that irony?"

"Kinda. But whatever, not now. She screamed and a bunch of infected climbed up onto the roof." A clawed hand reached through the trapdoor to the roof around the ladder which he'd used to block it, clawing at empty air. "And now they're trying to get in."

"Well that's just fuckin' dandy!" Ryan said. "Escape plan?" Matt looked around, but he could find nothing. "What, nothing?"

"Just give me a second."

"Come on, smart guy. Give us an idea!"

"Give me a second!"

"See? What a great leader. Now we're stuck in here, trapped like rats!"

"Will you shut the- wait. Repeat that."

"Trapped like rats?" A grin slowly crept onto Matt's face. "Oh no. You aren't getting some sick idea, are you?"

"Just follow me and cover my back," he said. He took a large can and threw it at the glass doors. They shattered, also partially destroying the barricades they'd made. He kicked his way through to the outside. "Just cover me for about twenty seconds! I'll be done in a minute." He ran into the middle of the street.

"What're you doing?" Ryan yelled.

"Just cover me!" Matt said, setting down his rifle and getting on his knees. He began clawing at the object before him. The infected started swarming down the building.

"We got company, Matt!" Ryan said, starting to fire off into the crowd. "You'd better hurry the hell up!" Matt huffed heavily, pulling hard at the metal disc. He heaved it out of the way with a grunt.

"Everybody, in! Now!" he instructed. The three fired at th infected as they lowered themselves into the sewers. Ryan pulled the manhole cover back over and found four latches on the bottom of it which he turned and locked it into place. There were cries from the infected above as the three lowered onto the ground. The water was about ankle's height and sloshed past them. Everything was dark. Immediately, all three flipped on their flashlights. Matt on his assault rifle, Ryan on the assault rifle that Matt had given him, formerly belonging to Ean, and Ike with his own, holding a pistol in the other hand.

"Let's move," Matt said. They slowly sloshed through the tunnels toward a safe place, wherever that may be.

They entered a room, walking onto a catwalk. Below them was a huge latticework of pipes and flowing water.

"Pumping station?" Ike suggested. No one replied. They just continued to the center of the large catwalk. They sat, shivering quietly and opening cans of food. They ate in silence.

"They aren't down here," Ryan commented. The other two looked at him. He looked down at his can, almost awkward. "The infected, I mean." Matt nodded.

"Yeah."

"Look," Ike whispered. They followed his gaze. One of the large pipes that led into the pumping room was dumping water that had a red tint about it. "Blood."

"All the dead," Matt said quietly. "All the wounded. So much pain and suffering. How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Ryan said. "Maybe it's like all those zombies movies. Some weird virus, or a biohazard in a graveyard or something."

"These aren't graveyard zombies. They're always there, they have to be alive before they're turned. Maybe it is a virus. But if it is, where did it come from?" Matt asked. The other two shrugged. Matt sighed. "Whatever. I guess it's not important. It's here and we'd better get used to it. It's the world now. It's their world now." The others shivered. They knew he was right. Total wipe out of the human race.

"What's that?" Ryan asked quietly. They heard a long, low echo. It sounded too familiar. "They found us? Here? UNDERGROUND?"

"They're going to keep finding us until we either kill every one of them, or they kill every single survivor," Matt said, loading his rifle. They faced the dark tunnel, the only light their flashlights and a very dim light filtering in through grates above the pumping room. They shone their lights down into the long tunnel they'd come through. Everything was quiet. Then, all of a sudden, a person sprinted through the opening at them. A Tank slammed into the wall they had narrowly missed.

"Fire on the Tank!" Matt commanded. The three began firing at the large behemoth. The Tank cried out as they sprayed it in the head with their fire. It started running at them until Ryan's rifle penetrated the skull of the beast, causing it to fall where it stood, crumpling to the ground in a large mass.

"Are you okay?" Ike asked the person. It was a young girl. She was about 15 years of age.

"I'm fine. But that Tank wasn't the only thing I brought with me." There were distant cries in the tunnel. "We can save formalities until we get out of here." The others nodded.

"I think that tunnel will lead to a manhole somewhere near," Ryan said, turning to their immediate right and shining his flashlight down the tunnel.

"What weapon do you have?" Matt asked the girl as they started to move.

"Just this," she said, holding up a Glock. "It's okay for the little ones, but I couldn't take down that Tank. Thanks."

"No problem. You need a flashlight. As soon as we can find one, you'll be taking it." She nodded. They started sprinting down the tunnel, Ike and Ryan taking point, Matt and the girl following, watching in Matt's flashlight beam for any enemies. "So what's your name?"

"Evelyn," she replied. "You?"

"I'm Matt, that's Ike, and Ryan." They nodded with polite smiles. "We were just hiding down here until we could find out how to get out of here. We figured if we take this tunnel, we'd be able to surface a few miles out from the city. Of course, you led them down here, so we'll probably be at the outskirts of the city." She nodded.

"Sorry."

"No worries. We were about to head out anyway," Matt lied. She nodded.

"This is the place where the tunnel starts to thin," Ryan said. "We'd better get out here or we'll be crawling one by one. Then those Hunters can pick us off one by one." They shuddered. Ryan climbed the ladder and pushed on the manhole cover. "It's stuck," he grunted. Ike and Matt climbed up, one hand and foot on the ladder, pushing as well. Finally, the manhole cover moved enough so they could climb up. The four got up and looked around.

"Where are we?" Matt asked. They'd lifted a truck that had been propped on the manhole and rolled it just far enough away that they didn't have to worry about it.

"Like you said, the outskirts. We're probably in some backwater alley." Ryan, Ike, and Eve started walking.

"Wait," Matt said. He smelled something funny. He opened the door of the car and a corpse fell from it. He reached into the corpse's pockets while the other made looks of disgust. He retrieved a set of keys. "Ryan, you're a pilot. Can you drive?"

"I sure can," Ryan said, grinning. Matt tossed the keys and Ryan caught them in midair. "And where to, guys?"

"Springfield," Matt replied. "Maybe there's someone still alive there. There was someone still alive here." Eve smiled. "And we need more ammo. I'm running seriously low on this thing."

"And a flashlight," Eve pitched in. Matt nodded.

"Alright, pile in!" Ryan said, getting in the driver's seat and rolling down the window. "All aboard for Springfield!"

**Comments are greatly appreciated and they let me know you guys want more. I know one of my fans does, but what about the rest of you? More reviews!**


	6. Part 6

_**PART 2**_

The truck was old. Thankfully it still had quite a bit of gas in the tank. Ryan was in driver's seat, Ike had called shotgun, and Matt and Eve sat in the back of the car, sweeping the darkness with his flashlight. The sun was beginning to dawn over their destination: Springfield.

"You guys saved my life," Eve said, grinning. "Thanks."

"It's no problem. But in exchange, you've gotta give us your survival story," Matt replied.

"Yeah!" Ike called through the window to the bed of the truck which was open.

"Alright. Let's see. I was a normal student in that city you picked me up from. I attended high school. The daily grind. But one day, I got home, made myself a sandwich, started playing video games and… my parents weren't there. I couldn't find them anywhere. I called up my mom's work on the phone to get no answer. Calling my dad's work, I got a bit of a different story.

"I heard that he'd been bitten by a crazed lunatic and was now being held in the hospital. I called the hospital and asked for my dad's room. The only reply I could get was a horrified receptionist, telling me over and over 'They're coming back. They're coming back.' I had no idea what she meant. I instructed her to stay calm and ask who came back. She just said 'them'. So I asked from where. She told me, 'The morgue'.

"At this point, obviously, I was thoroughly freaked out. 'What,' I thought to myself, 'Like zombies? Yeah, right.' But I wasn't convinced. I headed up to the hospital. It was roped off with stuff that looked like police tape, but it read, 'Quarantine'. The police were taking samples off a corpse outside. My dad's.

"'Dad!' I yelled. I ran over and tried to get to his body, but they wouldn't let me. 'She's dead,' the police officer told me. 'No he's not,' I replied. 'He's getting up, see?' We all looked, horrified, to see the reanimated corpse of my late father getting up to his feet and releasing a savage war cry. He began killing everyone. Finally, I hid in the police cruiser. He attacked it brutally, slamming into the side. The glass began to crack. I did the only thing I could do. I picked up a shotgun from the floor and shot him through the shattered glass. He fell to the ground, finally actually dead.

"I continued to my mom's work, seeing more and more people being attacked by these crazed reanimated corpses as I went along. They ignored me for the most part. I reached my mom's work to also find it quarantined, but this time there was blood spattered on the windows, windows broken, crying from inside, screaming. I thought I recognized my mom's voice. I started inside, breaking the quarantine tape. As I made my way through the building, I killed every one of those reanimated freaks I saw, using the shotgun. Finally, I got to my mom's office.

"She was there in the corner. 'Mom!' I cried. She looked up at me. I was horrified. The person I tried so hard to save, the woman that meant so much to me in this life, was gone. And replaced with a horrible, evil monster. I locked the door to her office and left as quickly as I could. I couldn't stand seeing her anymore.

"After, I ran from building to building for a while, just kind of surviving on whatever I could. Until I saw the sewers. 'Look,' I thought to myself, 'The sewers! Those are supposed to be safe!' So I came down here. Of course, a Tank followed me. As did the bunch of zombies.

"So that's my story," she concluded.

"We've all lost people we care about," Matt said. "My parents, my older brother, my cousins and grandparents."

"Yeah..."

"Ey guys!" Ryan called back to them. "Look to your left!" They looked and saw a green street sign reading, "Springfield: 2 Miles". Below it was permanent marker that read, "TURN BACK, I OWN THIS LAND".

"Damnit, one of those crazed ones?" Matt asked.

"Probably," Ike replied. "To you two, early on, me and Matt and two others were traveling together and came to a town with a similar warning. We thought it was to the zombies. So the four of us just waltzed on in. The guy almost killed us. He had a lot of weapons and a well fortified defense. But we eventually killed him instead."

"If this is another one of those... those 'rulers of the world', I want nothing to do with it," Matt said.

"We'll be fine. There's still four of us, we'll take him down quickly and without question."

"What if he's not bad like the last one?" Eve asked.

"He probably is," Ike replied.

"But if he's not?" she insisted.

"Then we'll invite him to come with us," Matt said. "We're not stopping here. We have to keep going."

"Where are we going, anyway?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, this entire trip I haven't heard a word of where we're going," Ryan commented. Ike and Matt looked at each other.

"Ean came up with the original plan," Matt said. "We're to continue on the highway going north until we find somewhere cold. Real cold. Like, really REALLY cold."

"What? Why?" Eve asked.

"Wait," Ryan piped up. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"The zombies are essentially just walking corpses," Matt continued. If they were to go somewhere cold, like any other dead thing..."

"Without body heat it would freeze solid," Eve said quietly.

"Exactly."

"So where's the dream destination?" Ryan asked.

"Canada. Or Alaska. We'll see if the infection has even reached up there yet then we'll wait until winter, come back down, and start wiping out everything," Ike replied.

"Right." They drove in silence for a few minutes.

"This babe is getting low on gas," Ryan said, patting the dashboard. "Want to ditch it?"

"Keep it going until we find the survivor," Matt replied. "As long as it's on, it'll squeeze the last bit of gas from the tank." The sun began to set over the horizon. "We haven't seen a single infected the entire way through. "How does that happen?"

"Maybe the survivor killed them all," Ike replied. "Maybe he's some super zombie killing badass with huge biceps and wicked rocket launchers and-" The car jerked to a stop.

"Hey, Ryan!" Matt yelled, "what's going on?"

"Come up here and look!" Matt climbed out of the bed of the truck with his rifle and walked to the front of the car. Standing in the headlights was a small metal construct. It had four spindly, almost spider-like legs, two big lights, and a large camera lens on the front. It slowly moved up to aim the lens at Matt and Eve.

_"Processing data..."_ it said slowly.

"What's that?" Eve asked, kneeling next to it.

_"Data processed. Human DNA. Warning: this area is still under quarantine. You must report to a vault immediately. Please follow this construct to the nearest vault." _The spidery thing began to walk away slowly, its lenses still focused on the two. When it got about 20 feet away and they hadn't followed, it stopped._ "Please come this way. I must assist your entry to the vault and oversee it to catalog your entry. Please follow this model immediately." _

"Come on guys," Matt said to Ike and Ryan. The two got out of the car and the robot refocused its lens.

_"Processing data... Human DNA. Warning: this area is still under quarantine. You must report to a vault immediately. Please follow this construct to the nearest vault," _it repeated. The four began to follow it through the city. They found the corpses of the infected everywhere, as well as other robots doing various things such as incinerating the corpses or rolling along slowly towards their next destination._ "Please enter the building. This construct will take you to the vault and allow your entry." _They followed the robot into the basement of the building to another shiny metal vault. It plugged itself into a socket near the vault and its lights flickered slowly._ "Warning: this vault has sent out its emergency code. This vault must be quarantined. Please flush out any infected personnel you may see and they will be injected with the anti-virus." _Another spidery robot climbed down the wall, this one having 4 extra limbs, loaded with syringes.

Eve and Ryan opened the vault while Matt and Ike watched. The vault opened and several people emerged.

"You're living people," someone replied. "Is the infection over, then?"

"No, we're survivors. The robot brought us here because this place is still under quarantine. What's going on? What is this vault?"

"Oh boy..." someone said quietly. "They... they told us not to tell anyone... not even survivors... oh boy... oh no...."

"Tell us what?" Ike asked, grabbing the boy by the scruff of his neck.

"About the vaults. About what they're used for, and the quarantine..." The party of four looked back at the three humans inside. One was an older woman, a younger female, about 17, and the boy who looked about 7 or 8.

"Tell us," Ryan said, setting the shotgun on his forehead.

"Okay! Okay! The robots were corralling the rest of the people here so they can survive. These vaults all have a communication mechanism, but we lost contact with several other vaults already. The robots scan everything in the city. If it's infected, they kill and burn it, if its food, it comes here, if its humans... well, look." Matt nodded.

"_Initiating anti-viral injection,_" the medical robot said, coming closer.

"No!" Ryan said, grabbing the syringes before they could inject the boy.

"What?" the boy asked. "It's the anti-virus. We're okay."

"That's what killed the others," Matt said. "In the other vaults. They took it and it turned them into the infected."

"What? We all took it already." The other two nodded. "Those three took it and didn't stay with us," he said, noting the three others outside. They were all dead, one still twitched lightly.

"Certain people survive the anti-virus," Matt said quietly.

"Yes," the woman said, stepping forward. "We tried to make everyone capable of harboring this anti-virus, but some people's bodies just couldn't handle it. It sent them off the deep end and they became fully infected. While in the vault we tried working on a way to harness the way the anti-virus uses the body and make sure everyone could be able to take the anti-virus. So far we haven't had any test subjects. Could... well... could we maybe use you as test subjects?" The four looked astonished.

"I don't know..." Ike started.

"I'm not quite sure I want your meds in my blood," Ryan stated.

"We don't really know you very well..." Eve replied.

"I'll take it," Matt said finally. The others looked at him.

"You sure, dude?" Ike asked.

"Yeah. I want to try." The woman nodded.

"Come inside," she instructed. He went into the vault. It was slightly bigger than the others, about 3 rooms large. She led him to a small cot. "I've heated this cot up. By heating the blood and quickening the heart rate, it is able to spread the anti-virus through the body at a rate that it will not, and can not, backfire. Hypothetically speaking."

"Hypothetically," Matt grumbled, lying down on the cot.

"Now as soon as your heart rate reaches three ticks above normal we'll inject you."

"What's a tick...?" Matt asked quietly. She ignored his question, watching his heart rate on a monitor. He watched as the red line began to go faster, spiking more frequently.

"Wait for it..." she said. "Wait for it.... There! Three ticks." She slid the needle under his skin. He gasped as the syringe penetrated his skin. He jolted gently, holding himself so as to make sure he didn't rip his skin open with the needle. She pumped about one third of the needle's content into his body and pulled the syringe out. "Now, in about 20 seconds you should be fully immune to the virus. Wait... what's going on...? His heart rate is unstable? Someone get me some ice! He's going into shock!" Matt's vision blurred. Everything he saw was shaded in a dark crimson color. Then he lost consciousness.


	7. Part 7

_**PART 3**_

He awoke slowly, looking around, unable to recognize his surroundings. He looked down at his hands. He looked fine. Except that under his nails was blood. He squinted at it. It was human blood, crusted under his nails. He looked around, beginning to become more attuned to reality. He was in the vault. Everything was chaotic. Things were knocked over and ripped apart. He went over to the door and pushed. Locked.

"Hey!" he called out. His voice was raspy and rugged, as if he hadn't talked for days. "Let me out! Guys? Are you there?"

"Nice try," he heard Ike's voice reply from the other side. "You're not tricking us again. You're staying in there until the gas kicks in."

"Gas...?" Matt mumbled, looking around. There were several ventilation shafts that were seeping with a greenish gas. "Ike, this better not be Smoker gas! Let me out! Please!"

"What did you call me?"

"Ike. That's your name. Ike, please."

"Guys! He recognized my name! What do I do?"

"He what?!" He heard a commotion outside the door.

"Yeah, he called me Ike."

"Well turn off the gas and open the god damned doors, that's what you do!" he heard Eve yell. The locks clunked out of place as the door opened slowly. Eve ran in, hugging Matt.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she said.

"What happened?" Matt asked, his voice still raspy. "Can I have some water?"

"Yes," the woman said. She had a scratch mark down her right side. She saw Matt looking. "It was... an unfortunate accident. We'll tell you all about it in a bit. I have to admit, Matthew. You're a different kind of person." Matt looked at her oddly, wondering what she meant, and how she knew his name was Matthew.

"Matt, here, drink," Eve said, holding the glass to his lips. He took it and downed it in several gulps.

"Any more?" he asked. Eve scurried off for more water. Matt looked over at the woman. "I think now's as good a time as any for you to tell me what the fuck is going on." He saw her pull out a clipboard and write something down. Her lips spelled out, _"Increased aggregation"_. "Damned right I'm aggressive. I have no recollection of how long I've been out, I wake up with blood under my nails, and I'm treated like some sort of lunatic, now I want answers, and I want them NOW."

"Calm down, Matthew. That's the only way we're all going to get through this."

"And how do you know my name?" She stopped. "Well?"

"It turns out you were part of a secret government operation. I found your record. That's not the problem right now. The anti-virus."

"That's what did this to me," he spat. "Your damned meds. Ryan was right."

"Not necessarily. I'll explain the majority later, but your bloodstream was already altered to almost... almost instinctively hold a failsafe for both the anti-virus and the actual virus." Eve came back with another glass of water which Matt drank easily, intent on listening to this woman. "As soon as we let the anti-virus into your body, you reacted with a peculiar reaction. Your body was instinctively performing the 'Fight or Flight' reaction, and you were fighting. Your bloodstream was sending your mind and heart into a state of shock. It appears you have extremely minor traces of the virus in your blood. When a foreign strain of the virus, or the anti-virus, enter your body, the separate strain in your blood reacts, making you have the appearance of an overly aggressive Hunter-type infected."

"I... I was a Hunter?" Matt asked, shocked.

"In a sense, yes. You were. But we brought you out of it as soon as we could. Not soon enough, however." She nursed her wound gently.

"I'm sorry," he replied gruffly, staring away from her.

"It's fine. I just need to record your reactions to know how this odd strain reacts with the human body. We successfully transplanted the anti-virus in your body, however." He looked up at her.

"And my strain of the virus?"

"Well..."

"It's still IN me?!"

"Yes. It's okay, it's tampered. It will only react in severe emergencies. If you are faced with a horrible disaster or a horrifying event, such as someone dying, or faced with something along the lines of several Tank-type infected, you will react as the Hunter that has been implanted within you. It will attack your enemies, and hopefully preserve your friends."

"Hopefully?" Matt demanded.

"It's a temporary solution until we can retrieve the strain for study and reproduction."

"For the love of god, do not tell me you're going to be duplicating that horrible gene."

"We will, for the good of survival and mankind. It's like a steroid. If used, it will increase the strength and integrity of a person 250%. It's a breakthrough. But how you've harbored it, I cannot hope to imagine."

"Well keep me out of it," Matt said, getting up. "I want it out of my system as soon as possible."

"We will try, Matthew. Go meet up with your friends. They are living in a nearby residence. By the way, my name is Dr. Langlan."

"Whatever," Matt said, his rage beginning to get the best of his temper again. He stormed out, followed closely by Eve.

"I can show you were it is," she replied. He nodded, following her. She led him into a nearby apartment. He stepped through the door and counted heads.

"We're short," Matt said immediately. There was a pause and a solemn silence. "Ryan."

"The anti-virus reacted violently with his bloodstream," Ike replied softly.

"I see," Matt replied softly. "Did they dispose of him properly?"

"Yes," Ike said. "We asked for a funeral procession, but they wouldn't allow it."

"Maybe a few minutes of silence," Matt replied, closing his eyes. He sat for about three minutes, then opened his eyes again. "I think I want to leave this place."

"What?" Eve asked. "It's perfect here. The robots defend us from any attacking infected, they've swept the city, it's clean here."

"But is the sewers? Is every apartment building secure? How about the forests, town parks, closets?"

"You're overreacting," Eve said. "Langlan was talking on the radio of the vault from the outside to the other vaults. We figured out that several other survivor groups found a bunch of the other vaults. They're all opened. It's like earth is rebuilding itself slowly. The humans are climbing from the ashes to reclaim it."

"Doesn't that mean we're just as bad as them?" Matt asked. They stopped. He was right. The scenario was just like the first scenes of the outbreak. The dead were just beginning to rise from morgues and wherever they had fallen to attack. "How do we know we aren't the scourge and that they weren't here first?"

"This isn't a time to think about that," Ike said. "I think we should search the city for a bit, maybe we'll find something the robots missed. We were provided with ammunition and weapons from Dr. L and the vault workers." He tossed Matt his rifle, fully equipped with a new laser-pointer and large clip. "Suit up."

"Move forward," Matt said. They advanced into the house, checking each floor systematically. "Clear." They went outside and painted a large blue X on the door. They'd done that with about 40 houses already. Several times they encountered a few enemies, so they had to paint a green X.

"Next house," Matt said exhaustedly. They advanced into the house and checked the top floor, middle floor, then the bottom floor. "Hey, check this out." Ike and Eve came in and looked at what he was staring at. It was a door, like the vaults, but they saw light at certain parts around the edge. They pulled it open revealing a lit passageway deep underground. He looked at them, they shrugged, then advanced down the tunnel.

They came out in a large storage-like room. There was a door labeled, "SEWERS", another door labeled "VAULT", and their door labeled "UPPER FLOORS". Matt moved forward, and tried the door to the sewers. It swung open, revealing a congregation of pipes and a ladder that led to upper scaffolding. He navigated carefully across the narrow piping to the ladder which he climbed up, followed by the others. They reached the platform above and looked around. The lighting was bad, so they had to use their flashlights. Eve now had one, seeing as Ike took Ean's rifle from Ryan after he died.

The scanned the darkness quietly, looking around for anything of use. Matt made a sound as his flashlight ran over a person-like figure. He did a double take, looking for the person that had been standing there, silhouetted in the beam of light, but found nothing.

"Did anyone but me see that?" he asked quietly.

"See what?" Ike asked. Suddenly, there was a crash. They all looked toward the spot where the noise had come from. The catwalk was beginning to collapse.

"Move!" Matt commanded. The three ran for the ladder and slid down, tight-rope walking across the pipes to the other side, near the storage room, watching as the scaffolding and some of the pipes collapsed.

"What was that?" Eve asked.

"I don't know," Matt replied. "...but right before it happened I saw a person."

"A person? What'd they look like?" Ike asked.

"It was an older person. A man. He was wearing some kind of black business suit. His hair was brown, but graying. You could tell he was old, probably the leader of some huge company. I don't know. I'm not even sure I saw him. It was one split second before it was gone again."

"That's creepy," Eve said. "Let's head back." Matt nodded.

They walked into the vault.

"I seriously think we should leave," Matt said. "Remember the goal? Canada?"

"Yeah, I know," Ike replied. "But I think it's safe here."

"If Canada's been compromised we can fall back here. Okay?"

"We'll think on it. It has to be a majority decision. We're a team." Matt nodded. He knew Ike was right.

"Welcome back," Dr. Langlan greeted. "I'm glad you're all alive. Any luck finding the infected?"

"No, but we did find-" Eve started before Matt bumped her.

"What was that?" Langlan asked, occupied with her goings on around the vault.

"We found a few supplies which we gave to the others." Langlan paused for a moment, and Matt thought for a moment that she saw through his lie, but she nodded and continued. She set a picture up on the wall and brushed it slowly. It caught Matt's eye for some reason. He looked closer and stifled a short gasp.

"What?" Eve asked, following his gaze. "Hey, that looks like..."

"It is," Matt replied quietly. "He's the one I saw." He turned to Langlan. "Hey, who's the guy in the picture?"

"His name is Brian Melson, the founder and director of this project," she replied, gesturing to the vault. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Matt replied.

"I almost forgot," Langlan commented, picking up a folder on the table. "Our reconnaissance teams brought back something a bit... discouraging." She handed them the folder and they opened it. There was text on the page, but Langlan was narrating it almost word for word. "They found a new breed of infected. Apparently, some peculiar cult had started seeing their friends die of a mysterious virus and, due to some twisted tradition, they severed one finger from each hand of the body then stitched up every wound and cut on their body, then stitched up their mouths. As you can see in the picture, the products are quite hideous." She was right. The creature they stared at vaguely looked human, but more beast than the former. "When infected, this tradition seemed to have some sort of odd affect on the corpse. It caused its feet to become spikes rather than having toes and replaced their arms with a horrific blade-type weapon.

"Now, when our teams approached this creature, it was alone, walking slowly through the streets. One of our members fired his rifle at the creature, and it attacked. They were able to kill it, but suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the things began dropping from the windows and rooftops of the surrounding buildings. One of our ten man crew survived, bringing back images and terrible stories. He also claims that as he was running away, he saw the creatures beginning to sew up on of the members of the crew, turning him into a creature just like them."

"That's really, really creepy," Ike replied, looking through the report.

"Indeed. Our robots are now trained to attack these peculiar 'Stitchies' on sight."

"Stitchies?" Matt queried, looking through the report.

"It's what our member called the thing he fought. However, the Stitchies, unlike other infected, are able to almost... almost think." The three's heads immediately snapped up.

"They can what?" Matt whispered.

"They think. After seeing a robot kill one of their members, they destroyed the robot. Suddenly, around the city, several other Stitchies were seen destroying the sentry robots. It's a hive consciousness thinking, but fortunately for us, it's drawn them out of hiding."

"And the thing didn't attack until we fired at it?" Matt asked.

"Yes, but it was infected-"

"So if your teams hadn't attacked it, we may have had a temporary peace with these things?"

"You aren't understanding correctly-"

"They think, Langlan. They understand things. They can process general thought. And they travel in packs. Do you really want to fuck with them? I think that if we can somehow make peace with these Stitchies, we'll find an amazing new ally, the likes of which we haven't seen in this post-apocalyptic age."

"Out of the question. They are infected, and one wrong move would have them attacking us," she insisted.

"Not me," Matt replied. "They mustn't go on appearance, or they would've killed each other. Perhaps it's smell. And I have their genetics. I may be our only tether to these creatures. If I can make peace with them, will you allow us to exploit them in finding and killing the other infected?" Langlan frowned thoughtfully, taking the report back as Ike handed it to her.

"I will think on it. I think you three should get some rest for now. We've upped the patrol around the living quarters section of the town. The Stitchies wont get within 50 feet of the compound without the alarm sounding." Matt nodded.

"I am a bit tired."

"Then please rest. You've finished a hard day of work. You've cleaned out so many houses already. You should find food in your quarters and you'll be protected by the guards."

"I wanted to sleep in one of the quarantined houses for today," he replied.

"Oh?"

"I could move our food and stuff into there. It's nice a sturdy, a few guards can be posted outside. We can hold our own if the Stitchies come for us."

"Alright." She signed a piece of paper. "Give this to a guard. He and a few others will escort you to your living quarters, where you see fit." Matt nodded.

"Thank you." Matt and the others walked outside, went to their building, packed their stuff and gave the notice to a guard.

"You aren't thinking of what we think you're thinking, are you?" Ike asked.

"I think I am," Matt replied.

"You can't just leave the compound without permission," he whispered so as not to tell the guards who were following them.

"I can and I plan on it. It's my life. Don't tell me what I can and can't do."

"This is society now. You have to follow rules. They're made for the well-being of the entire group, not just you, Matt." Matt turned to him.

"And there are always people who break rules. If I get in trouble, I deserve it. But that doesn't mean I won't try." He turned back to the road and walked in silence for a while.

They finally made it to the building.

"Thank you," Matt said to the guards, entering the house with Ike and Eve.

"So you're just going to leave?" Eve asked.

"You two go to bed. I'll be downstairs," Matt said, ignoring her question. Ike walked upstairs in silence.

"Okay..." Eve said. "Don't hurt yourself, Matt." He looked her up and down. She sincerely wished that he'd be okay. He hugged her for a moment.

"I won't." She nodded. He went into the basement, opening the vault door again and heading into the pumping room. He knew where they'd be. After all, he had the mind of the infected.


	8. Part 8: The Stitchie Finale

**CHAPTER 8**

He took another turn in the long, winding corridors of the sewer. He knew the exit would be around here somewhere.... He was far enough away from the guards that he could easily escape without anyone hearing. He heard a splash and turned, sweeping his flashlight behind him to find Eve getting up off the ground.

"You followed me?" he whispered. She nodded. He frowned for a moment, then nodded, signalling forward. After a while, they found a ladder. Matt climbed the rungs slowly, pushing the manhole away from the exit. They stepped up into the street. It was deserted. They felt the icy feeling of fear in their gut. It was the end of the world, the end of society. It's not just deserted. There was always something, somewhere. And it was always dangerous. They heard a light, feathery noise, like paper hitting the ground. They turned. Suddenly, Matt heard a squeal and looked to Eve... to find her several feet away, in the grip of a Stitchie.

"Let her go!" Matt said, leveling his rifle.

"_Stop fighting. He's on our side,_" a peculiar voice said. It was as if it were in his head, yet all around him. The Stitchie looked somewhere far off, then nodded, releasing his human captive. She ran over to Matt, holding her pistols tightly. He saw that her knuckles were white from pressure and she was shaking. "_Welcome to the outskirts of our home._" He looked for the source of the voice, but found none.

"If you're going to talk to us, show yourself. Stop being a coward," Matt scowled.

"_Right, I'm sorry. I forgot you aren't like the other Stitchies._" A figure jumped from a building. He looked familiar. He was patched together oddly. Matt now saw that the Stitchies weren't just one person, but many people's parts, stitched together into a patchwork figure. His face was odd and disfigured, although Matt sensed something familiar in it. "_I am Alpha._"

"Alpha?"

"_Indeed. Taken from the Bible. 'I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last'. I was the First, and, therefore, I am Alpha._" Matt nodded. It made enough sense. They were once human, after all. "_And you are Matt and Evelyn, I suppose._" Matt nodded. "_Welcome to our abode. Well, near enough. I cannot take you to our home, as it would be against our way. But I can speak with you here._"

"You aren't speaking, though," Eve stated. She was right. Although Alpha was more in the dark, Matt could see that his mouth wasn't moving. He was speaking telepathically.

"_Figure of speech, although it isn't technically speech._" Eve nodded. "_Now, please tell me, why are you here, humans? Why did you venture past the safety of your guards and come to speak with the infected, no less?_"

"I need your help," Matt said. "I'm suffering from... peculiar sideaffects of an antivirus." Alpha's mismatched eyes squinted, then widened in surprise.

"_Oh...! So it is you._"

"What's me?"

"_Nothing. It's legend. Myth. However, I'm not sure how I can help you, Matthew. I'm not the one you should see._"

"But that military, they aren't very reliable. I'm sure SOMEONE can help me. Someone's still alive... a doctor, maybe. Or something."

"_You want me to get you out._" Alpha said, looking him up and down, his eyes flickering fast. He was reading Matt's thoughts. "_And cause a distraction. Is this correct?_"

"Yes."

"_I will mull it over. Sleep, human. You need it. We do not. If we agree to your terms, we will follow your scent through the sewer system into your home and assist you in your escape. Understood?_"

"Yeah, I got it," Matt said. He felt Alpha's tone. He knew they were going to escape. "We'll go back. Come on, Eve." They descended the ladder, and heard the loud scrape of the Stitchies closing the manhole. They started for their temporary home.

"Matt, wake up!" Eve shook him. His eyes opened slowly. He saw Eve above him, and behind her were two Stitchies, both very large and masculine looking. "They've started the distraction!"

"What...?" Matt stumbled to the window to see guards fighting off Stitchies. It seemed a very even fight, although he knew the Stitchies were going easy on them.

"_We must move now, human,_" one of the big Stitchies told him. "_Call us B and C for short, it makes it easier._" Matt nodded.

"How are we going to get out?" The Stitchie, B, jumped up, grabbing part of the ceiling and tearing it downward, making a ramp onto the roof. "Well. That's improvisation."

"_Come!_" Matt, Eve, Ike, B, and C started onto the roof, running from rooftop to rooftop. Suddenly, they heard a horrible noise.

"_Oh no,_" C mumbled in his head. They looked back to see the fight interrupted by hundreds of Infected, coming from the houses, sewers, roofs nearby. "_Move!_" They started sprinting, holding their weapons at the ready. They stopped abruptly, the rooftop ending. The next roof was several hundred feet away.

"We can't get across!" Matt told them. B grabbed Eve and Matt, C grabbed Ike, and the two did a running leap, vaulting over the gap easily, and setting them down.

"_We must move, humans. Alpha instructed us to stop for nothing, and that is what we will do._" They started running again.

"What's our escape route?" Matt asked, dodging a chimney.

"_We plan on crossing the rooftops until we reach Main Street. After descending, we will take you quite a ways North, to the highway. There we can let you go on your journey for help for your condition, Chosen One._"

"Chosen One? What're you-" A horde of Infected came sweeping from a hole in a rooftop. As the trio fired, B and C lunged at them, ripping them apart.

"_WE MUST MOVE!_" B yelled. They complied, running faster than they thought possible. "_Main Street. Take the fire escape._" B stood guard on the roof as C moved ahead of them. They took the steps two at a time as they sprinted down the metal grating. Ike cried out and they turned, seeing him bleeding from the leg. He'd gotten cut along a sharp peice of exposed metal on the escape. Matt took a roll of gauze from his pack and wrapped it around his leg quickly.

"We gotta move, buddy. I know you can make it. Come on, we have to keep moving." Matt grabbed Ike and hurried him down the escape, starting down the street, the Stitchies covering both point and the rear. After a while, they saw a large building had collapsed.

"_That was our primary exit. We must find another way around._" B instructed. Matt looked around.

"How about that?" he asked, gesturing towards a building near the collapsed one. It was intact and the door was open.

"_We must. Come._" They started for the building and headed inside, climbing over wreckage and shooting the few zombies inside with simple pistol shots. Finally, they came to the other side. "_Move!_" There was a loud rumble.

"Oh god..." Eve said quietly.

"That's not..." Ike started.

"Son of a bitch," Matt finished. A Tank smashed through the collapsed building, rushing towards them. B and C took after it, attacking it brutally. It slammed C into a wall, and he collapsed to the ground in a dead heap of patchwork corpses. B was putting up a fight and the other three fought the Tank with their might, Matt firing his rifle and not letting up. The Tank finally loosened its grip on B and crumpled to the ground.

"_Come... on. We must... move..._" B limped forward, at about running pace, seeing as the Stitchies were much faster than normal people.

"Why are you so intent on helping us?" Matt asked as they ran after him. "Why us? We're humans. You could disobey Alpha."

"_He would know. And besides, you're the Chosen One._"

"You said that before. What does it mean?"

"_The Chosen One is like Alpha. He is part human and part Infected. He is the opposite of Alpha, looking more human than Infected, and he will lead the world to harmony with the undead. You are that person._"

"I see." They were silent for a while.

"_There. The highway._" They looked to see the road extend and stretch into a gray strip that lead into the horizon. The sun was beginning to rise a bit to the left of the highway. "_This is where we depart, my friends. Chosen One, keep going. Live for as long as you can._"

"I will. Thank you B."

"_It was my pleasure._"

"Oh, and tell Alpha... tell Ryan thanks."

"_I shall. Goodbye, Matthew._"

"Goodbye." The Stitchie ran off into the city to assist his friends and the trio started down the highway, unsure of what lied in store.

* * *

"It should be nearby," Matt said. "The distress signal was coming from around here." They looked through the windows of the houses, but none of them were lit. "There!" They ran towards the house and opened the door, finding Infected. Shooting them and proceeding forward, they headed into the basement. It was empty.

"Look," Eve said. There was another door. Another vault. They went over to the keypad.

_"Please enter your password."_

"Password?" Matt wondered. "Um... Zombie." An alarm went off. And it was LOUD.

"Jesus!" Ike said, falling to his knees, covering his ears.

"Wait..." Matt said quietly. "Oh no." Suddenly, the windows of the basement exploded inward, Infected pouring through like water from a tap. The trio unloaded clip after clip of ammo into the zombies and finally Matt got the idea to shoot the alarm. The room went almost quiet, except for the constant screaming of the zombies rushing forward. Eventually, they died down to nothing. They lied there, panting heavily.

"Matt..." Ike groaned. "I feel weird..." Matt looked over to see Ike lying in a pool of greenish-black blood. He also saw that the gauze was stained with it.

"Oh my god, Ike, get up!" He helped Ike to his feet.

"I don't feel good, Matt...." He vomited and Matt turned away, grimacing. "Oh god.... It's a searing pain... make it stop..." He whimpered, limping to a corner to huddle into a ball.

"You didn't get any in any of your wounds, did you, Eve?"

"I might have..." He looked and found a small scratch on her arm, now red around the puckered sore, infected with germs.

"Jesus..." He felt something course through his veins. Then he realized, he was part Infected. "Eve, let me bite you. It should give you some of my anti-virus." He knelt near her and cut his leg open, letting the blood drip into her wound. She groaned softly. He then went over to Ike. "Ike, let me give you my anti-virus."

"No..."

"Ike, listen to me, you're infected!"

"No!"

"Ike!"

"NO!" He turned, his eyes a dark red. His nails had grown into claws and he growled, lunging at Matt. Matt cried out, pinned to the ground. Ike, now a Hunter, slashed at him, screaming. Suddenly, he was thrown from Matt. Looking over, he saw Eve on top of Ike, ripping into his chest. Matt's eyes went wide. Eve turned, her eyes red, but only on the iris, none of the rest. Ike's eyes had been dark red, all of them.

"Matt," she said softly. "I feel odd."

"Come on, we have to get into the vault," Matt said, typing in more passwords until the vault door opened and they entered. There was a corpse lying on the ground, empty cans of food around him. On the wall, he'd written: "KEEP LOOKING FOR YOUR HELP. I RAN OUT OF FOOD AND AIR IN HERE. I'M DEAD. SORRY." Matt cursed, closing the door.

"What now?" Eve asked.

"We wait," he replied gruffly. "I leave tomorrow. You stay here. I'll be back for you eventually."

"Eventually?"

"You're infected. You don't need food or water or air. You can survive in here for a while."  
"Matt, I want to help you. I want to come with you."

"You can't, Eve. I won't let you."

"Then we can't be together." He looked into her new, red eyes. They were set in determination.

"Fine. We wont." She was shocked, but nodded.

_**TO BE CONTINUED...?**_

**Thank you to all of my loyal fans for waiting so long, and to the new ones who added me to their favorite story/author list. I love you all. And ponder what in the world could be coming next for the....**

_**THIRST 4 BLOOD SERIES**_


	9. NOTICE

**A Note to my Adoring Fans:**

I have decided to clear a few things up here, rather than replying to every single review.

1. I have decided to make two Films, or Books, after Book 1: The City. Each will follow one of the two final characters of Book 1.

2. My email address is halo_, please send reviews there.

3. Most of the dead characters will not be back. ...probably.

4. I have decided, against my better judgement, to leak an excerpt of Book 2: The Wastes. Note that this is in the perspective of Eve and will not be under the Left 4 Dead category, but probably in either Crossovers or in Fallout 3 (as that was a partial inspiration for the Vaults in Book 1).

5. I will be completely revamping Thirst 4 Blood, basically by primally ripping it apart and redoing it, word for word, until I have a correct flow and more of a Left 4 Dead feel. This may also mean extra chapters, chapters cut, or major plot twists modified. All the reason to read it again! Think of it as Thirst 4 Blood, Book 1 and a Half.

So, please, enjoy the excerpt below and be sure to email me any reviews or problems you may have.

**Thirst 4 Blood**

**Book 2: Wastes**

**INTRODUCTION:**

_Dust, Fear, Echoes_

or

_Glass Underfoot_

_by: Ralph Garnitz (Aka, Bulbaholic)_

I sling my pack over my shoulder.

Off down the same road I've traveled so long.

A long, troubling road some can't take.

Sometimes I'm close to breaking.

As if I need a permanent rest...

But I persevere.

I look around me.

Now all too familiar sight...

Sounds... and the taste of smoke.

The smell of whatever wretched thing is burning.

The feel of my heavy pack, my burden.

I continue forward still.

The riverbank where I wash my hands clean,

Of the guilt of things, now ordinary.

A necessary evil for survival.

Of the blood of those I've slain,

For the good of my own survival and others.

My reflection now that of a killer.

I'm not me.

...not anymore.

I walk the streets, broken by war,

Alone, echoes of the survivors and their feuds.

I step forward, glass crunching underfoot.

I look, my shattered reflection, showing a representation of me

Of this city,

Of the world.

Earth, broken and dead.

Nothing left but Dust...

Fear...

Echoes...

**

* * *

A small town under the name of Hartdale. It was one of the Survivor Towns, as they were called now. Unfortunately, there were no real survivors of the Great War. Everyone was a victim in one way or another. Losing family, friends, or their life. And everyone lost material possessions. That is why many of the rich and famous committed suicide early on during the Great War, finding that they would come out with nothing.**

However, people survived. Their instinct for survival took control of them and pushed them ever forward, the lust to survive far greater than any other need in their body. They did things they weren't proud of. Watched great people die. But they were the new great people. They were the Survivors of the Great War. And they built towns all over America. After the Great War, the satellite service seemed to die away, so there was no contact with anyone from any other continents, but the US citizens feared the worst. No one could escape the icy grip of the Great War.

It was spring now. A light rain had fallen over Hartdale. The survivors had either no or very damaged coats or umbrellas, but they were happy to see the cold months over. It was a very long winter. The Great War technically "ended" during the fall. After, they had to make due with what they had left during the winter. But it was spring now. The month of flowers and happy times. Although, happy times were far from reality at this time.

"Well good morning," the waitress said, pouring some coffee into the woman's mug. "How've you been lately?"

"I've been good, thank you for asking," the girl replied, sipping the coffee slowly. "So this is Hartdale."

"Yup, I'm sure you've heard about it?" The girl nodded.

"Quite a bit, in fact." The waitress smiled, nodding.

"Enjoy your coffee, hun." She walked from the table, going to serve another customer. The girl sipped at it a while longer. Then she got up and walked outside.

Eve didn't quite know why she was in Hartdale. Perhaps it was because it used to be her hometown, Springfield. Perhaps it was because this town was one of the most popular Survivor Towns in the west part of America. Normal people risked their lives to get here. But she wasn't a normal person.

Whatever the reason, she was here. And might as well make the best of it. She walked around, and marveled at the city. It was obviously in well condition for a ruin, but they had rebuilt most of the homes and put a large, thick, chain link fence around the perimeter. It had a hotel, several housing districts, and a market. It was a quaint little town, although the hotel had several hundred residents. It seemed almost enough to qualify as a pre-war rural town.

"Get your newspaper here! The Hartdale Gazette! Headline: Infection sweeping west! Bunker down, get ready for a fight!" someone shouted. She walked over to him. "Want a newspaper? What do you got?" She frowned, looking through her pack.

"Well what do you want?"

"Hmm. Gourmet food?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"If you can't make me an offer, I guess you don't NEED a newspaper..."

"How about this?" she pulled a can of cranberries from her pack. It took her forever to get them, and she was waiting for a special occasion to enjoy them...

"Deal!" he snatched the cranberries and handed her a newspaper. She read through it. Most of it was junk. Stupid newspaper salesmen. Suddenly, a few articles caught her eye. One was, "INFECTION SWEEPS THROUGH THE US AGAIN!", and another was, "MERCENARY GROUP FOR HIRE". Although the Mercenaries wouldn't normally catch her eye, it was the picture that did it. It was obviously taken with an old Polaroid camera, and the picture was of several people wielding large machine gun-type weapons. She recognized one of them. She squinted, and gasped. It was him. It was Matt. He was... ALIVE.


End file.
